The Defunct All Progressives Congress (APC), Women Campaign Council, have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to appoint its members into positions of authority to ensure inclusivity in his government.
Elizabeth Otunbalogun, Spokesperson of the group made the appeal on Wednesday at a news conference in Abuja.
Otunbalogun said the appointment of its members was necessary as a matter of fairness and also to foster trust in the people.
“The 2023 election may have come and gone and we in the APC are beneficiaries as a party, but as women of the defunct campaign council, we are not.
“We are very sad with the shift in appointments by President Tinubu that has ignored us.
“We demand that the president look into the defunct APC council and pick women to fill the 18 per cent deficit in the appointments made so far.
“This will ensure correction of the anomaly in future appointments for women participation in governance in Nigeria,” she said.
Otunbalogun said that the defunct APC women campaign council had pivotal persons that worked for the emergence of the president in 2023.
She said the women availed themselves through various groups and associations to galvanise support for the actualisation of aspirations of President Tinubu and the Vice President, Kashim Settima.
She also wondered why their members were not appointed, in spite of their effort to ensure victory for the APC.
“We went all out for the party and the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
“What is our sin? What did we do wrong to warrant this level of ignominy
“We are asking these questions because our research team has made scary findings on the level of abandonment suffered by members of the defunct campaign council,” she said.
Otunbalogun noted that President Tinubu had raised the hope of women on May 29, 2023 when he promised to increase their participation in governance to at least 35 per cent of all governmental positions.
“That promise as we expected was in line with the National Gender Policy (NGP) of 2006.
“This statement peaked the various assurances which the President and his wife Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, promised to the group before the election.
“So, for him to commit to it in his inaugural speech was indeed pleasing to us as Nigerian women who worked for the party,” she said.
Otunbalogun said that the appointment so far made by the president appeared not to represent this goal.
She said that the cumulative appointment by the president since May 2023, stood at 12 per cent.
This, she said does not reflect 50 per cent of the 35 per cent of the NGP of 2006 on inclusion; it fell flat of the expectation from us all.
Otunbalogun appealed to the president to reconsider his appointment to ensure that members of the defunct APC Women Campaign Council were adequately rewarded for their efforts. (NAN)
